Arsenal’s pre-season has left me feeling nothing. Like listening to a Lighthouse Family album back-to-back on a drive to Slough. Drinking a Costa Coffee at the DVLA. Listening to a guy at work explain an episode of Andrew Huberman about the benefits of sleep. I’m numb out here, my eyes glazed, I’m in an Arsenal-induced coma of fear… are we going to be alright?
I suspect so.
There are a number of things that we’re dealing with this pre-season that lead me to believe that it’ll probably be ok. The main one, that I’ll repeat ad nauseam, is that we’re coming off the back of a disgusting season of beauty, that had a World Cup attached to it. Players are going through the motions, they are only focused on fitness, the intensity as a result has felt a little like the energy levels when the company does a fun run and St John Ambulance has to be activated after 13 minutes because three people are down with heatstroke.
The Como starting 11 yesterday had Julienne and Marli Salmon in it, two extreme teenagers if that’s the way to frame them. Nothing felt close to normality in a game that was much better from an intensity level than we’ve seen in the last two weeks, but still a ways off being where you’d like to be for the Man City game this weekend.
The main improvement against Cesc’s boys was the intensity of the pressing. We dialed things up, and we put a very good ball-playing team under a lot of pressure. Como didn’t really know what to do with us. They had no answers and you sensed that even the kids felt their superiority against a team that has made a splash with a very fun rebirth under one of the greatest Arsenal creators of all time.
The story that underpinned the evening was the bizarre Myles Lewis-Skelly chatter that hit the airwaves, courtesy of his very own people. An embarrassing mishap after a pretty bland performance of his against Dortmund, where he didn’t put his best foot forward with a lackluster outing against more intense oppo. Myles scored the first and only goal for Arsenal after he blocked an errant pass just outside the box with his head, Martinelli cushioned the ball back to him, the midfielder took control, sorted out his feet, and brushed his shot into the bottom corner. The celebration was a bit bashful. One would hope that’s the end of the story this summer, but I fear it is not, Arteta’s views after were hardly emphatic, he just wanted to focus on the positivity of Myles being linked to big clubs as it was… a reflection on the club doing good things.
Myles had a sturdy outing at the base of midfield and showed that he could be run out next to Bruno, who came on to rapturous applause and a cacophony of BRUUUUNOOOOOOOs. Our new destroyer, who is also a sublime creator, had a steady outing. It’s not clear what the job is for him this season, but he is a very positive player, always moving the ball forward, always looking for runs in over the top, while making sure he has cover for the team. He made a few very good tackles down the other end. A great addition.
I’m afraid I’m gonna call it early, but Martin Odegaard is very much back. He was spraying balls around like it was 2024. His footwork was exceptional, the bravery in his choices was a joy to watch, and the moves he was pulling out were very much final-action balls. He wanted to be in the final third, there was no hiding deep. This could be a big season for him, free of pain, free of concern for a World Cup, and hopefully unburdened after winning the Premier League. If he can give Arsenal 3,000 minutes in the Premier League, we will be in good shape.
The full backs. Marli Salmon and Julienne… oof, it was pretty good. Both of them showered themselves in piping hot glory. Brave, good on the ball, disciplined for the most part, and more than up to the challenge of playing against bigger kids. Julienne really caught the eye, because he felt like the sort of full back we have lacked. Electric passing, keen to be part of the attack, pace to burn, and a nightmare to deal with for Como. These are the sorts of players that Arsenal should be building up and flipping for €30m, but we don’t. Marli Salmon, wow, a different breed of player… thoroughbred, from the same DNA line of exceptional defenders as William Saliba, if this kid was a horse, he’d have billionaire ranchers bidding on his services and the numbers would be eye-watering. I don’t like to gas up teenagers, but f*ck me, this boy looks like he should be starting Premier League games. But… he’s a baby, and in the Premier League, the beasts of more experience will target him and pick him to pieces like hyenas on an injured baby wildebeest.
No loan, according to those that know, but surely, we need to be finding him minutes from January. Get him trained up, manned up, whatever is needed so he’s in contention as soon as possible. If we’re going for Konsa because the succession plan is Marli, then I am all in on this beautiful plan.
Ethan was fairly decent, not spectacular. He was all-action, box-to-boxing, sometimes an 8, sometimes a 10, sometimes he was occupying the 9 role because Gabriel Jesus was trying to be a false right back or whatever he does to avoid the accountability of scoring goals. You do get the impression that he knows the club want to move him on, Galatasaray and Milan are lurking, and the feeling is that the club aren’t throwing themselves on fire fuelling the smoke. That’s a shame, a real shame.
Max Dowman is an interesting player, he wasn’t bad by any stretch, but I wonder how he’s going to cope this season. The world knows who he is now, the player understands that he won’t be able to play with the same freedom, and the pressure is going to mount on him. It hasn’t been a banner pre-season for someone we hoped would be starting on Sunday. Prospect to real thing is a long journey and I suspect there will be bumps in the road this season. Other fans will get on his back. It’ll be tough. That’s the process though, nothing is easy in the Premier League, but at least he’s playing at a club that will elevate him through his second season, with a fan base that will support him all the way.
The forward line-up for Sunday is going to be Tzolis, Kai, and Madueke. Hard to feel particularly enthused by that after the problems we had last season, but I don’t feel totally down and out about it. The manager said after the game we’re looking, but there are limited options to improve Arsenal.
“There is more that we want to do because every time we have an opportunity to improve the squad and bring more quality and depth to the squad, we need to do that.
“We are actively trying to do so. The thing in the market is that it doesn’t just depend on you. We are very clear on that.
“But the approach, the will and the desire of the club, that’s unquestionable. We want to try to do that. But we cannot promise that we’re going to do it because it doesn’t only depend on us.”
I know a lot of fans will scoff at this sort of chatter, but he is right. The last thing we should be doing with our money this summer is squandering it on players that are hopeful additions, for NOW money. There’s a lot of chatter around Godts at Ajax, Yıldız at Juve, and a whole group of other players that have high potential… but we don’t need high potential, we need tried and true magic that’ll blow the lid off The Emirates in big moments. There are very few players capable of that. Barcola, sure, we’ve seen it. Álvarez, absolutely, he’s been doing it for years. Kvara, I mean, come on… what a talent. But those players don’t get exited with ease. The smartest thing to do if you can’t move those players on is to not panic. Clubs that panic and make second-choice moves end up with Gyokeres on their books… and the problem with those types of signings is it’s impossible to sell them when they don’t work out.
The one to keep an eye on is Álvarez… Atlético are going to huff and puff on this deal… they’ll be working all the persuasion magic they can… and the hope is that at the death, they might see the light, and try and sell him for a deal that gets them a Gyokeres or a Martinelli as part of the swap.
… and just to remind you all. Arsenal won the league under extraordinary circumstances last year without too many problems. We managed to win a league without Kai, Saka, and Odegaard. We lost Timber, Merino, and had to plug a teenager into the system to save the legs of Zubimendi. All those players will hopefully play a more starring role this season. You think that’s going to make Arsenal worse? No way. You think having Bruno as an option in midfield is going to close off the way we play? No way. You think Max and Myles as legitimate options for rotation this season makes us worse? No way. You think Tzolis is going to tank on the left? Can’t be having it.
The curse of being Arsenal is we can’t sell players for sh*t… the gift is that we’re an extremely settled squad. Far more settled than Chelsea, Man City, and Liverpool, who are all dealing with their own mini-crises and consequential turnovers.
Arsenal are Premier League Champions. Not by luck. By proxy of the best system. A system that had us unbeaten in open play in Europe. The biggest challenge we face this season is not the squad make-up, it’s the dip after you reach a mighty summit, and it’s the consequences of going so far in so many comps last season. Combined with a manager who fired all his medical staff.
Plenty more predictions over the next week… podcast coming later today… in the meantime, get stuck into the comments section! x
We're pretty depleted squad wise because of WC involvement and injuries.
Hard to expect anything from the preseason friendlies. My worry is it will take us some weeks into the season to get up to speed, we hich could cost us points.
We don't have the firepower to brush aside lesser teams when we're not at our best.
1st